Big-name veterans may decide to wait until August to sign

Nearly three weeks into the free-agency period, plenty of big-name veterans on the wrong side of 30 continue to be available.

And they likely will continue to be available.

The next point on the timeline to watch will be the draft. If teams don’t address specific needs by adding rookies, more teams possibly will become interested in the many aging but proven players who want more than is available right now.

At some point, however, plenty of these veteran players, like Dwight Freeney, will decide to wait until August to agree to terms. If the money in their estimation already is bad, it likely won’t get much worse — and the players in question would get to miss offseason workouts and training camp.

Of course, that could make it harder for some of them to ultimately win a roster spot. And, at some point, teams may decide to wait until after Week One to do a deal, since a vested veteran’s salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s on the opening day roster.